What fancy rails? It's one overhang wire and power to the standard rail. This has been done in way less wealthy places than Canada, because it's simple and cheap.

[–] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Catenary is a bit more involved than that. There are two overhead cables, one hanging from another, with tight tolerances to allow the pantograph to work correctly. Those catenary systems done on the cheap tend to fail in slightly windy weather.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 2 points 24 minutes ago (1 children)

Yeah, you're right but I'm pretty sure you're not disagreeing with the overall statement. Especially in this context we're talking about commuter rail that has trains running frequent as 15 minutes on relatively short distances with frequent stops. We're currently burning diesel and brake pads for that.

[–] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 1 points 11 minutes ago

Yes overall but there are caveats. It also depends on electricity costs. At the moment in Britain electricity is expensive so electric freight locomotives have been put in storage in favour of cheaper diesels. 15min isn’t very frequent but EMUs are best for acceleration.